Stadiums would bring more than baseball to Hillsboro, Milwaukie

Hillsboro city councilors last week officially approved an agreement to build a baseball stadium, which city officials say will be a multipurpose facility. (Rendering courtesy of SRG Partnership)

When Bob Richmond, president of the Northwest Baseball League, was asked last week about the chances of a minor league team playing in Milwaukie, he responded with a deep, tired sigh.

That is because over the past couple of months he has answered the same question from countless residents, city officials and reporters. In fact, the onslaught of phone calls was twice as bad a few weeks ago, he said, before the league announced that Hillsboro would gain a team.

Richmond said there is a buzz about the likelihood of minor league baseball arriving in two Portland suburbs. However, citizens and government officials say the excitement stems from more than just baseball.

“In the end, baseball is a tenant – a long-term tenant, but just a tenant,” said Steve Greagor, director of Hillsboro Parks and Recreation. “In excess of 300 days out of the year, the stadium will be used for something else.”

Proposed stadiums – Hillsboro’s is moving forward, while Milwaukie’s is contingent on the city landing a team – are expected to fulfill a variety of community functions as well as attract more visitors, city officials say.

Hillsboro’s 4,500-seat stadium, with an estimated construction cost between $13 million and $15 million, will help the city meet a demand for more parks and recreational areas, according to Greagor. The stadium’s artificial turf will provide a year-round playing field for youth sports, adult recreational leagues and possibly high school state tournaments.

Additionally, the city is working with the Hillsboro School District to plan student events, like graduation ceremonies, at the stadium. Music concerts and festivals are also being considered.

Many of these events, especially the state tournaments and music concerts, will attract new visitors to Hillsboro and open the city to a wider audience, Greagor said.

“It will help establish an additional aspect to our community’s identity,” he said. “It will bring family-friendly, very affordable entertainment not only to Hillsboro, but the whole Portland area.”

Greagor said the stadium is the largest project the city has taken on in years and will provide many construction and engineering jobs, though he could not give exact figures.

Milwaukie’s proposed 4,000-seat stadium, which could potentially cost $25 million, would also be used for recreational sports and outdoor music events. City officials say the indoor concourse area could be used as a marketplace or an event area for weddings, movie nights and other social events.

Between baseball ticket sales and leases for private events, Milwaukie city officials say the stadium could generate annual revenues up to $7.1 million.

“It’s just going to be a beautiful gateway to the city,” said Joe Loomis, a Milwaukie city councilor. “I see it spurring small businesses, especially in downtown Milwaukie – like bike shops and small coffee shops.”

Milwaukie's plan to build a baseball stadium would be put on hold if it were unable by July 24 to secure a relocation commitment from a Northwest Baseball League team. (Rendering courtesy of Three Sixty Architecture)

The stadium also would give the city a recognizable landmark, according to Pepi Anderson, a resident in the city’s Lewelling neighborhood.

“Milwaukiens have great pride in being a city that’s trapped in between Portland and the nether lands out there,” she said. “(The stadium) will bring people into Milwaukie and help them discover the good things we have here.”

Of course, the idea of the city having a professional sports team is also exciting, Anderson said. Officials from both cities have marveled at the idea of having a metro baseball rivalry, which would be unique (no existing NBL teams are so close). And, according to data collected by the NBL, there is a large demand for baseball to return to the Portland area – enough to support two teams.

But baseball would be only the beginning. The stadiums could become ambassadors for both Milwaukie and Hillsboro, Loomis said.

“The people that come to events will have the opportunity to see the local businesses and bike trails and say, ‘Well, I’ll bring my family back and rent a bike, and we’ll ride the trails,” he said. “It’s just exposing Milwaukie to other folks.”

The city of Milwaukie has set a deadline of July 24 for an existing team to make a commitment to move there; it will not build the stadium otherwise. Hillsboro city councilors last week officially approved an agreement to bring the Yakima Bears to town. The team has an agreement with the city, but it still has to sign an agreement with the NBL before Sept. 4 to make the deal official.

When Richmond was asked whether Milwaukie and Hillsboro would both have teams, he said wearily, “It looks like it’s going to work out,” and then hung up.